Osnaburg Bishopric

The occupiers of this bishopric were princes ecclesiastical of the empire, and had not only the ordinary authority of bishops in their dioceses, but were sovereigns of their provinces and towns in the same manner as were the princes temporal. The bishopric of Osnaburg was founded by Charlemagne, and was filled by various princes until 1625, when Cardinal Francis William, Count of Wartemburg, was elected by the chapter. By the Treaty of Osnaburg, 1642, which was ratified at the Peace of Westphalia, 1648, the House of Brunswick resigned all claims to the archbishoprics of Magdeburg and Bremen, a…